Investors who are looking for growth along with income need look no further than water utilities. Although most communities are served by governmental water district entities, residents of some communities buy water through companies that own water rights and are publicly traded. The nicest feature about these companies is that they are semi-recession-proof in that people don't stop using water. And when the economy turns around and new homes are built and businesses grow, water consumption increases.
Fortunately, there are several of these companies that investors can choose from according to the free list of high yield water utility stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.
One example is American States Water (AWR), founded in 1929, which is a distributor of water in 75 communities in California. It trades at 17.7 times forward earnings and pays a decent yield of 3.0%. During the summer, the company raised its dividends by a substantial 26.7%. Earnings for the latest quarter were up significantly, by 19.6%, with revenues rising 11.5%.
Aqua America (WTR) distributes water to customers in Pennsylvania, Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Florida, Indiana, Virginia, Maine, and Georgia. The stock has a forward price to earnings ratio of 21.0, and yields 2.8%. The company has raised its dividends every year since 1988 and has had many stock splits during that time. Earnings for the latest quarter were up an amazing 23.2% on an 12.3% increase in revenues.
Connecticut Water Service (CTWS) trades at 20.4 times forward earnings and yields 3.3%. Earnings were up an incredible 60% on a significant 18.6% boost in revenues. The company, which was founded in 1956, serves customers in 55 towns in Connecticut. The company raised its dividend by 2% in August.
For a free list of high yield water utility stocks, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.
Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.
By Stockerblog.com

Sunday, December 30, 2012

If you are looking for the next big industry, it won't be in smart phones, tablets, or smart TV sets. It will most likely be in robotics. Companies that use robots for manufacturing have numerous and obvious advantages over just hiring employees. Robots don't form unions and usually don't get hurt on the job. And if they do, they won't file a workers comp claim. No bonuses or pay raises either.
So are there robot companies you can invest in? A lot depends on what you call a robot company. Are flying drones, artificial heart valves, or 3D printers considered to be robots? Are companies that use a lot of robots considered a robotics company? How about a company that has robotics as a very small part of its business. If you include the stocks of all those companies, then there are over 60 robot stocks available to invest in according to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.
ABB Ltd. (ABB), which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, is a Swiss company that has installed over 190,000 robots around the world. It is also involved in the production of power and low voltage products. The stock trades at 16 times current earnings and 13.5 times forward earnings. In addition, it pays a generous yield of 3.4%, payable quarterly. Earnings for the latest reported quarter were off by less than 4% on a 4.4% rise in revenues. The company has 5.45 billion in cash amounting to cash per share of 2.38. Total debt is $9.08 billion.
iRobot (IRBT) is more of a pure play in robotics, and not just because it has the word 'robot' in its name. Based in Bedford, Massachusetts, it makes everything from the Roomba vacuum cleaner to the PackBot police and military robot. In addition to consumer home and military products, it is also involved in medical robots and underwater research robots. The stock trades at 15.5 times trailing earnings and 25.5 times forward earnings. Latest quarterly earnings were up 8.2% on a 4.9% rise in revenues. This debt-free company has $6.84 in cash per share. The stock trades on NASDAQ.
Adept Technology (ADEP) is another robotics company, this one based in Pleasanton, California. In addition to the robot hardware, it is also involved in the software and vision side of the robotics industry. The company generated losses for the latest quarter. It carries debt of $4 million but has over 12.7 million in cash.
If you are interested in a free list of all the companies involved in robots, which includes price earnings information along with company info, go to WallStreetNewsNetwork.com.
Disclosure: Author didn't own any of the above at the time the article was written.
By Stockerblog.com

Saturday, December 29, 2012

First there is the anecdotal evidence. I know of a Sacramento couple that has put offers on eight homes in the last three months, all above the asking price, and getting outbid on all of them, mostly by all cash buyers according to their real estate agent. I have a friend who recently sold his house in Pleasanton, California, who received several all-cash offers way above the asking price, and closed escrow in thirty days. A house in my neighborhood sold within six hours of listing.

Now the statistical evidence. According to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which is the leading measure of U.S. home prices, home prices rose 4.3% in the 12 months ending in October. The fact that home prices is good, though you may think that 4.3% isn't that much. However, what many analysts fail to take into account is that most people (although recently that seems to be changing) do not pay all cash for a house. They generally put 10% to 20% down.

What that means is that if you had purchased a home last year with a 20% down payment, and the home price rose by 20%, the return on the down payment would actually be 21.5%, in simple terms. This of course assumes all other things being equal, i.e. the mortgage, taxes, insurance, etc. being covered by rental income or an alternative to paying rent if living in the house.

If the down payment is only 10% with the same assumptions, the return would be double that. And if you have owned your house for a few years and lost all your equity, your gain during the last year would be infinite.

The reasons for these real estate gains are several. First, the Federal government has kept mortgages artificially low, making it easier for home buyers to qualify. Second, there have been an influx of foreign buyers willing and able to pay all cash for homes. Third, because of the cutback in the building of new houses, the inventory of available homes for sale has been constricted. Fourth, real estate has been extremely depressed for a few years, with a bounceback being inevitable.

So what is an investor to do who wants to play the single family home real estate market without having to buy a rental house? Most of the residential real estate investment trusts, such as Aimco (AIV), AvalonBay Communities (AVB), and Home Properties (HME), invest in apartment houses. To invest in single family homes, you have to dig further.

Silver Bay Realty Trust (SBY) owns a portfolio of over 3,100 single-family residential properties through entities associated with Two Harbors Investment Corp. (TWO), and Provident Real Estate Advisors LLC. The company just went public in mid-December with 13.25 million shares in the IPO at $18.50 per share. Several officers and directors purchased the stock. Although falling about 2% after the IPO, the stock is now up 14 cents from its new offering price.

Then there are the homebuilder stocks, but most of those have already had a substantial move this year. PulteGroup (PHM) is already up 179% this year, KB Home (KBH) is up 128%, and Lennar (LEN) is up 89%.

Last but not least, the real estate brokers are doing quite well. The biggest pure play in this arena is Realogy Holdings Corp. (RLGY), which franchises the Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, Sothebys International Realty, Coldwell Banker Commercial, and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate brand names. The stock trades at 33 times forward earnings, and posted a quarterly revenue increase of 10.9% year-over-year with negative earnings.

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying
Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend.
This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy
markets, you have to be extremely careful, and may need to avoid the
technique during those times.

In order to be entitled
to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date,
and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual
dividend may not be paid for another few weeks.
WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend
during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying
companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%.
Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, the yield, and the market capitalization.

CH Energy Group Inc CHG 1/8/2013 3.4% $974.0M

Darden Restaurants, Inc. DRI 1/8/2013 4.4% $5.8B

General Mills, Inc. GIS 1/8/2013 3.2% $26.5B

UDR, Inc. UDR 1/8/2013 3.7% $6.0B

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ 1/8/2013 4.7% $124.3B

WGL Holdings Inc WGL 1/8/2013 4.0% $2.0B

Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. WDR 1/9/2013 3.2% $3.0B

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website
before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your
cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out the high yield
utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date:
the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to
that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can
sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Some income investors chase yield; some income investors chase yield increasers; and some chase earnings increasers. Many investors look for some combination of these features or they have their own set of criteria. One other way is to see if there is a consensus among the analysts.

I checked the list of electric utilities against what the research analysts think about them. I looked at the S&P Capital IQ STARS with four or five stars, TheStreet Buy recommendations, the Buy recommendations of First Call Consensus, the Jaywalk Consensus of either Strong Buy, Buy, or Hold, the Market Edge Longs, Ford Buy or Holds, the ResearchTeam™ Current Rating of Buy or Hold, and Credit Suisse Outperform or Neutral. After running all stocks through my screen, I only came up with two electric utility stocks that met all that criteria.

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE) is one of those two utilities. The company generates and markets electric energy in the United States and Canada, with about 4.6 million customers in Florida. The electrical generation comes from wind, solar, natural gas, nuclear, oil, coal, and hydro power plants. The stock trades at 14 times forward earnings and provides investors with a decent yield 3.4%. The company has increased dividends every year since 1994. Earnings for the latest quarter were up 2.0% on a 12.3% drop in revenues.

The other electric utility that came out of the filter is ITC Holdings Corp. (ITC), a Novi, Michigan utility involved in the transmission of electricity. Its customers include investor-owned utilities, municipalities, cooperatives, power marketers, and alternative energy suppliers. The stock trades at 15.5 times forward earnings and yields 1.9%. The company, which has increased dividends every year since 2005, raised the dividend earlier this year by 7%. Earnings for the latest quarter were up 16.5% on a 12.5% boost in revenues.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying
Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend.
This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy
markets, you have to be extremely careful, and may need to avoid the
technique during those times.

In order to be entitled
to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date,
and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual
dividend may not be paid for another few weeks.
WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend
during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying
companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%.
Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, the yield, and the market capitalization.

Brandywine Realty Trust BDN 1/2/2013 5.0% $1.7B

Bristol Myers Squibb Co. BMY 1/2/2013 4.3% $53.6B

Mack Cali Realty Corp CLI 1/2/2013 6.9% $2.3B

Enerplus Corp ERF 1/2/2013 8.5% $2.5B

Itau Unibanco Holding SA ADR ITUB 1/2/2013 4.6% $36.3B

SYSCO Corporation SYY 1/2/2013 3.5% $18.8B

Toronto-Dominion Bank TD 1/2/2013 3.7% $77.6B

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website
before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your
cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out the high yield
utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date:
the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to
that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can
sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

In case you are wondering if the real estate market has really bottomed, you need not wonder any more. It is taking off, and not due to low mortgage rates. According to a report by NBC Bay Area, prices of homes in Palo Also are up 21% and up 22% in San Jose.

The average price of a home in Palo Alto is now $1,684,000. What is amazing is that San Francisco Bay Area homes are receiving multiple offers way above list price. What is even more amazing is that most bids are all cash offers!

According to NBC, this demand is being fueled by Chinese investors, both foreign nationals and immigrants. One example that was given was a house near Stanford listed for $1,695,000 that ended up selling for $2,230,000, an increase of 32 percent over the original asking price. Escrow closed within seven days

It's not just the Silicon Valley area that is benefiting from this real estate boom; it is the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

Here is our latest update on the stock trading technique called 'Buying
Dividends'. This is the process of buying stocks before the ex dividend date and selling the stock shortly after the ex date at about the same price, yet still being entitled to the dividend.
This technique generally works only in bull markets. In flat or choppy
markets, you have to be extremely careful, and may need to avoid the
technique during those times.

In order to be entitled
to the dividend, you have to buy the stock before the ex-dividend date,
and you can't sell the stock until after the ex date. The actual
dividend may not be paid for another few weeks.
WallStreetNewsNetwork.com has compiled a downloadable and sortable list of the stocks going ex dividend
during the next week or two. The list contains many dividend paying
companies, all with market caps over $500 million, and yields over 2%.
Here are a few examples showing the stock symbol, the ex-dividend date, the yield, and the market capitalization.

Home Loan Servicing Solutions Ltd HLSS 12/27/2012 7.5% $595.5M

Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. APD 12/28/2012 3.2% $17.3B

Republic Services, Inc. RSG 12/28/2012 3.4% $10.0B

Raytheon Company RTN 12/28/2012 3.6% $18.3B

Maiden Holdings, Ltd. MHLD 12/28/2012 4.1% $642.6M

Kimco Realty Corp KIM 12/31/2012 4.5% $7.7B

The additional ex-dividend stocks can be found at wsnn.com. (If you have been to the website
before, and the latest link doesn't show up, you may have to empty your
cache.) If you like dividend stocks, you should check out the high yield
utility stocks and the Monthly Dividend Stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com or WSNN.com.

Dividend definitions:

Declaration date: the day that the company declares that there is going to be an upcoming dividend.

Ex-dividend date:
the day on which if you buy the stock, you would not be entitled to
that particular dividend; or the first day on which a shareholder can
sell the shares and still be entitled to the dividend.

Forbes $400 Off Offer

Forbes Limited Time Discount

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For Your Library:

"Short and compact book contains mostly condensed and well selected information that is useful for investors.IMO you should read this book if you are interested in dividend capture." ~ Seductive Dividend StocksSeekingAlpha

"Describes an alternative to the buy and hold approachfor income investors: reducing your market exposure with the 'buying dividend' (aka 'dividend capture') method, providing step-by-step instructions along with several real life examples."~ Mensa Bulletin Magazine

“The innovative concept introduced in this book, Buying Dividends, has led to a paradigm shift in how I view my investment portfolio. I am excited to implement this strategy into my investing arsenal, and hopefully generate high returns with low risk in the process.” ~ pennystocks.la

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